M E M O I ft 



OF 



SIR HANS SLOANE. 



the influence of Sir 

 Hans Sloane on the progress of Natural History 

 in his day, (and we believe it to have been 

 considerable,) to the present generation he is 

 most advantageously known as the founder of 

 the British Museum ; it may not, therefore, be 

 uninteresting, before relating his personal history, 

 to give some account of the private museums that 

 were in existence previous to his time, especially 

 as some of them merged into his own splendid 

 collection, which ultimately became the property 

 of the public. 



The first attempt at forming a Museum in 

 Britain, was made early in the seventeenth 

 century, by John Tradrscant, a native of Holland, 



B 



